Crossed Collective Hearts
by concernedApathetic
Summary: Forever is a long time but it has to start somewhere. Dave had been comfortable living with Bro. Being sent away was heartbreaking. He didn't want to start new in a new state with new people but maybe, in the end, it's for the better.
1. Chapter 1

My grandmother ran her thumb over my cheek and smiled at me warmly, "You don't need to be upset, Davey, he'll come back." My eyebrows furrowed together and my fingers tightened around the glasses I held in my hands.

"I'm not upset." I mumbled in response, my voice quiet.

She smiled at me sadly and ran her hand through my hair, "Come on, let's get your stuff unpacked." And for the first time I walked into my new 'home', the place that would be my home for the next ten years.

At the time I didn't know how much moving to this small suburban neighbourhood would change my life. I didn't know how much I would grow to miss this place when I finally ended up leaving. Instead I felt a deep seated hatred for this place. Just looking at it made me upset.

I slipped the far too large shades onto my face, pushing them up my nose to secure them. I paused to look at myself in the hallway mirror. I looked silly, but I didn't dare remove them. Wearing them, I was pretty sure I could deal with the fact that I wouldn't see Bro again.

I couldn't help but mope. I was sad. So much in fact, that I was soon labelled the most upset seven year old on the street. No matter how much grandma tried to convince me that Bro would be back in a couple years, I didn't believe her. I would force her out of my room, yelling all the while. I would slam the door behind her and sit down against the door so she couldn't get back in.

Grandma always tried to make me feel better even though it never worked. She took me shopping with her, and would always buy me something from the shop, even though I didn't want to go. Grandma would bother me and try watching the TV shows with me. While I hummed along to _Schoolhouse Rock!_ she tried to tell me how lucky I was that I got TV, let alone colour TV. It always took a while but she would give up and leave my room, and wouldn't call on me again until she had dinner ready.

Soon, it was August; nearly a month after Bro had left to go across the ocean. Grandma would try to talk to me about how I would be going to school in a couple weeks and I would get to meet all of the kids that lived in the area. I told her that all the kids that lived around here were dumb and that I didn't want to be their friends. She sent me to my room for using bad language.

"Davey, would you like to go to the park?" She asked one day. It was the first time she had offered to take me there. I didn't even know there was a park until then. Nonetheless…

"No."

"But you'd get to meet the kids you'll be going to school with."

"No." I repeated, reaching forward to hit the 'Volume Up' button on the TV.

Grandma sighed loudly and walked over, turning off the TV.

"Hey." I whined turning to her and pouting, my eyebrows furrowing together.

"Come on, get up, we're going to go to the park. I want to go for a walk as well." She said nudging my leg with her foot. I groaned and was tempted to just throw myself onto my bed and hide under the covers until she left. In the end I gave in.

I thought it wouldn't be that bad. But when we got to the park she told me to go out onto the playground while she sat on a bench watching. This was not walking. I almost threw a fit. I looked at her, my hands held in fists at my sides and my mouth in a tight line across my face. She shooed me away saying that all the other kids were having fun, but I just turned around and stared.

There were a lot of kids for such a little place. Grandma pushed my back and suddenly I was nervous. I turned to look at her, my eyes wide behind Bro's large sunglasses. She smiled warmly and I decided maybe it wouldn't hurt to go sit on the swing for a while.

I walked past the tire swings where a couple of black haired kids were spinning and swinging, it looked like it would make you dizzy. They were stupid and I hoped they fell down. I sat on the normal swing and started to pump my legs as I had seen on TV. I got the hang of it quickly enough and soon I was trying to see how high I could get.

Eventually, another person came and took the swing beside mine. A girl with blond hair, cut short and held in place with a headband. She didn't go very high. She just sort of stared at the ground with a frown on her face and moved a few inches back and forth. I stared at her for a while as I swung but she didn't notice.

After a little while Grandma came up with another lady. I slowed down to a stop and looked at the two of them with a cocked eyebrow. "Dave, I need to go home and start dinner. If you want to stay Ms. Lalonde would gladly look after you." She said motioning to the very tall lady she had walked up with.

This 'Ms. Lalonde' held her hand out to me and said, "It's nice to meet you Dave, your grandma told me about you." I stared at her hand for a while before taking it with my own and let her shake it firmly. The girl that had been sitting on the swing beside me let out a sigh. The adults looked over at her so I did as well. "Oh, you've already met my little Rosey." Ms. Lalonde said turning back to Dave with a smile.

"Not re-" I started quietly, but this 'Rosey' spoke up before I could finish what I was saying.

"Mother, I've told you not to call me that." She said before turning to me and holding out her hand just like her 'Mother' had. "My name is Rose, it's nice to meet you Dave." She said as I took her hand. Her shake was just as short and firm as her mom's.

"Nice to meet you Rose." I said quietly, even quieter than when I tried to talk to Ms. Lalonde. I turned back to my grandma after that, "I guess I can stay for a while longer…" I muttered just a little bit louder. She seemed deeply relieved and stepped forward.

"I'm glad to hear that." She kissed my forehead, "Just tell Ms. Lalonde when you're ready to come home. I love you."

"Love you too." I responded before she and Ms. Lalonde walked away again. I stared after them for a while before Rose spoke from my side.

"I'm sorry for my mother."

"It's okay." Then we both fell silent and we both went back to swinging slowly.

It felt like forever that we were quiet. "Want to go to the top of the tower." Rose said catching me off guard. She was pointing to the top of the jungle gym, to a small platform held higher than the rest of the playground. I nodded slowly and we both pushed our way off of the swings.

The park was less crowded now. Most of the kids were on the other side of the jungle gym, playing on the wide slide or on the rings or the tire bridge. Where we were headed was completely kid free.

We both stood at the bottom of the jungle gym and Rose spoke, "Most boys like to see if they can climb up the slide instead of using the ladder." She paused for a moment before looking at me. "I won't blame you if you want to try." She said before heading up the ladder herself. I looked at the slide and then the ladder. I wanted to try and climb up the slide like Rose had said but I didn't think my grandma would be very happy if I did that.

I took a step towards the ladder before I thought. _Bro would use the slide_. I stopped, turned and walked towards the slide. I stepped up onto the bottom and tried to see how far up I could walk. Not very far. I frowned as I slid down to the bottom again. Then I tried standing on the side of it and slowly shuffling my way to the top. Half way I got stuck and didn't know what to do because I kept hitting my head on the bottom.

I stepped onto the slide again right as someone came down. I didn't notice until he crashed into my legs and I collapsed on top of him and we slid down the rest of the way. I groaned in pain and glared at the offending kid. It was the black haired kid I had hoped would fall off the tire swing earlier. "What are you doing?" I asked in an angry voice.

He looked confused like he wasn't quite sure what had just happened. Then he looked up at me and smiled, "I'm sorry. Are you okay?" He asked. I pushed myself up and jumped off the slide not taking my eyes off of him as he sat up with an 'oomph'.

"I'm fine." I mumbled.

"Dave?" Rose asked from the top of the slide. "What happened?" She asked looking concerned.

"I was knocked over by some kid." I muttered looking up at Rose for a moment before looking back to the goofy grinning kid that had knocked me over. I decided there that I was going to be mad at him.

"Dave? Your name's Dave?" The kid said jumping to his feet and taking a step towards me. He held out his hand but I didn't take it. So he took my hand by force and shook it like crazy. "My name's John. You talk funny. Are you from around here? Nanna says that people who talk funny aren't from around here." I pulled my hand away from his.

"Leave me alone." I stated, though it was harder than I thought it would be to stay angry.

"But I just want to be friends. I mean… I didn't mean to knock you over. You're supposed to go down slides, silly." He said with a laugh. I had nothing to say to that because he was right.

Rose came down the slide and sat on the edge of it. "Dave, are you going to come up?" She asked, somehow knowing that talking to this John kid was making me uncomfortable.

"Can I join you?" John asked with a smile. Rose and I looked to one another then back to John.

"We're playing a game and we don't need anyone else." I said sternly. John looked a little defeated.

"Oh okay." Someone called his name and he looked over his shoulder at the sharply dressed man who had called for him, "I have to go anyway… I'll see you later." He said with a wave before taking off. Rose and I stared after him for a while before we both decided to use the ladder to get to the top of the jungle gym.

We didn't play any games though. We just talked. Rose told me all about her mom and how she drinks a lot and she gets her things that she doesn't want and that her house is filled with wizards. I found her funny, she wasn't trying to be but she just used a lot of big words and it was funny.

I told her all about my apartment in Texas and how I had lived with Bro before he left to go see the world and left me to live here in Washington with my grandma. I told her that I didn't mind that much because I hadn't really gotten to spend much time with Bro even when we did live together and at least grandma bought me things and made sure I was happy. Rose didn't seem too pleased with my answer, but she didn't say anything else about it.

I ended up asking her about school. She said that she was going into Grade 2 as well, at the same school. I sort of hoped that I ended up in her class. She was really easy to talk to, even if she used big words. She told me it would be nice to be in my class. She wanted to see how I acted in a new school. I'm pretty sure that she liked me too, she just wouldn't admit it.

Rose's mom came up to us after a while and told us that we had to go home. We both groaned but did as we were told; going down the big curly slide I had tried to climb up earlier.

We both climbed into the back of the car and her mom drove me home. She and Rose both walked me up to the door and made sure I was safe in my house before leaving again. I waved goodbye, closed the door and ran to the window to watch the car drive away before I joined my grandma at the dinner table.

She was very happy to hear that Rose and I were friends even though I never said that we were. After dinner we both sat in the family room and grandma put on Pinocchio. She said it was Bro's favourite when he was my age. I had seen this movie before with Bro. I had been very young but I still remembered the songs and hummed along with them.

When the movie was over I could barely keep my eyes open so grandma ushered me upstairs and to my bedroom where she helped me change into my PJs and tucked me in.

I didn't go back to the park again before school started. I never asked to go and grandma never offered. I didn't really mind.

Rose came to visit once or twice. We talked more and more and she made me say things about myself that I would never say to my grandma. She asked if Bro was actually my brother and I didn't really know how to reply. I asked her if she had a dad. Again she countered by asking if I had a mom or a dad. I ended up telling her that Bro was sort of my dad and not really my brother and that I didn't really know my mom. She nodded as she said that she didn't really know her dad either because he and her mom broke up when her mom was pregnant with her. It was sad, but I knew how she felt, so I distracted her with some of the things I had brought from Texas.

She was very interested in Texas because she had never been there. Apparently she had lived in New York when she was really, really young but she didn't remember what the big city was like. Not like I did. I told her how it was hotter than here in Washington and there was always noise because I lived right next to a busy street in the middle of the city.

We both agreed that Washington was nice though. Neither of us really liked all the rain, but it was quiet. I thought it was really cold, and Rose thought I was weird because it was really hot this summer. I stuck my tongue out at her and moved to show her the sword Bro had given me for my 7th birthday.

Rose then called me a few days before school started and told me what class she was in. I was very upset to learn that Rose would not be in my class this year. We both agreed that we would spend time together at recess and at lunch. I hadn't been this angry and nervous since I had first come here. I didn't want to be alone at school and I really didn't know anyone but Rose.

Grandma told me I would be fine and she was sure that I would be one of the most popular kids at school. This didn't make me feel any better so she tried to cheer me up by telling me stories about Bro when he was in school and how he used to goof off and make jokes with all his classmates. She also told me that Bro had never really brought any friends over from school. She said that he had only had four friends that used to come and hang out at the house. She also said that three of them still lived around here and had kids of their own around Dave's age. She let slip that one of these friends was Rose's mom and I couldn't help but giggle a little bit because that was really cool. I decided that would be the first thing I asked Rose about when we went to school in two days.


	2. Chapter 2

My knuckles were turning white from how hard I was gripping the straps of my backpack. Grandma had just dropped me off in front of the school and there was still ten minutes before the bell was going to ring. Kids were everywhere and my heart was beating fast in my chest. My eyes darted around, trying to find Rose in the huge crowds of people but she was nowhere to be found.

Unable to find Rose I decided to hide myself away in a corner, sitting down on the concrete and looking out at everyone. This was fine until a familiar boy approached with that same goofy grin on his face.

"Hey, you're Dave, right?" John asked kneeling down in front of me.

"Yeah." Was all I said, I didn't really want to talk to this guy.

"What are you doing here all by yourself? Don't you have any friends you can hang out with?" John asked, tilting his head to the side.

"I can't find Rose."

"That blond girl from the park?" He paused to think, "I haven't seen her today. Maybe she's already inside. Do you want to go in with me? We can look for her together." He suggested with that same large smile.

"No. Go away."

"But you're all alone…"

I froze. I was all alone? I hugged my knees to my chest and gripped them tightly. I _was_ all alone.

The bell rang and shook the thought out of me. John looked over to the door and frowned. He stood up and looked back down at me.

"What class are you in? Do you know how to get there?" He questioned.

"I'm in Ms. Paint's class." I said pushing myself to my feet. The grin on his face reappeared, bigger than ever.

"Me too. I'll show you the way."

Reluctantly, I went with him.

John traversed the halls easily, as though he had a map in his mind. We stood in a line outside of one of the classrooms and he announced that this was it.

I took this chance to look at the people who would be in my class. I didn't recognize any of them from anywhere. It made me feel lonely. John was waving at some of the others. I recognized that one of the responders was the one he had been hanging out with at the park the day I met him.

Ms. Paint was a short lady with a friendly looking face. She smiled at all of us as she told us to hang up our bags on the wall and sit down on the carpet in front of the board. I hung my bag on the hook closest to the door and sat down as far away from the board as I could. John sat down next to me. He sure was persistent but at least he wasn't talking.

The teacher had us rearrange ourselves so we were sitting in a circle. We then went around the circle and introduced ourselves to the class. Everyone said their name and something that they liked doing.

"I'm Dave Strider." I started. Some of the other students laughed at my accent. "And I like sword fighting." They were still laughing, even John was giggling. The teacher just smiled and nodded and we moved on. Again, all alone.

I didn't pay attention until the teacher started talking again. She explained our schedule and handed out a couple sheets of paper before assigning us to desks. I sat next to a very quiet girl with long black hair that she was always pushing out of her face. I think her name was Aradia. She talked even less than I did, maybe she was lonely as well.

Before I knew it, it was recess. John came up to me and asked if I wanted to play with him and his friend Vriska. I told him I'd rather go find Rose. He frowned and walked away.

I found Rose hanging around by the door. I smiled as I walked up to her, "Hey Rose." I called out, waving to her. She smiled and waved back.

"Hello Dave. I'm sorry I didn't come find you this morning, my mother brought me in late." She explained, "I'm hoping you didn't have too much trouble."

"Nah, someone else helped me."

"Well that's good." She paused, "So you're already making friends?"

"No…" I shrugged and frowned again, "It was that John kid from the park. He's in my class."

Rose just nodded and hummed to herself. Then she froze as her eyes locked on something and she frowned. I looked over my shoulder to see what it was. It was John and his friend Vriska walking up to us.

"Hey." He started happily, "We're playing four square and we need a couple more players, do you want to join us?"

Rose and I looked at one another and then back at John. "Sure, I guess we could play with you."

"But I'm not going easy on you." I said pointing at John. His friend laughed and flipped her hair over her shoulder as she turned around and ran back over to the squares painted on the cement.

And I sure didn't go easy on him. I was very athletic and I knew that. Bro had taught me a lot when we were together; he made sure I was trained to be strong. So when it came to a little game like this I was really good and none of the other kids could beat me. This game made me a little upset when the bell rang and recess ended.

The rest of the day was a little bit better. I still didn't talk very much because people still giggled whenever they heard my voice. At least I had stuff to look forward to every day.

I still wasn't very fond of John, he was really annoying and he never shut up. He always had at least ten questions at the ready at any given time. Nobody had ever been so quickly irritating to me. That was probably the reason it was fun to play games with him, it gave me a chance to beat him and shut him up.

After school my grandma picked me up and asked me how my first day at school was. I just shrugged and looked out the window for the whole ride.

When I got home Rose called and asked me about my afternoon and whether or not John had bothered me too much.

"He's not that bad." She said when I told her that he was annoying. "He's very silly but it's not like he's done anything to offend you. Maybe you shouldn't be so harsh on him all the time. Who knows, maybe he can be your friend then you won't feel alone."

"How'd you know I felt alone?" I said in a hushed voice not wanting my grandma to hear.

"Please, it's so obvious. It's written on your face even behind those goofy sunglasses of yours." I could practically hear her rolling her eyes and it made my cheeks feel a little bit hot.

"Well I'm not alone. I have you and Grandma." I remarked defiantly and Rose didn't respond.

"I'm sorry, I've got to go my mom is calling for me. I'll see you tomorrow morning. Bye."

"Seeya." And then Rose hung up.

"So Davey, did you make any new friends at school today?" Grandma asked at dinner time. I looked up from my plate and looked at her with a frown on my face.

"No, but I've got Rose I don't need any other friends." I explained.

"Oh, Davey, I'm sure you'll change your mind." She said shaking her head.

I didn't say anything else I just quickly finished my dinner and went to go watch TV up in my room. I didn't think I needed any more friends and I'm sure no one else wanted to be my friend. Except for John… John made it quite clear that he wanted to be my friend, but I was still angry at him for knocking me over.

At least I was trying to stay angry at him but even then as I thought about him it was really, really hard to stay angry.

* * *

School went pretty much the same as the first day for a while. I stayed quiet because even though it wasn't as bad after the first day people still smiled and looked to one another every time I spoke. It didn't matter though because it meant I got to pay more attention to the teacher as she started easing us into lessons.

At recess and lunch I hung out with Rose. John and Vriska would come up and join us sometimes and I let them even though I still didn't know whether I could actually like John or not and Vriska was always smirking at everything like she was planning something.

A couple of times John would ask if I wanted to hang out afterschool. Every time I would come up with and excuse and make an escape. I don't know why I was so keen to get away from him whenever we were alone. Rose said it was because I knew, in my mind, that I couldn't stay mad at John if I hung out with him and that I was coming up with excuses so I could stay angry.

It didn't matter how I felt about it though because after a couple of days of his very persistent asking I ended up agreeing to hang out with him. We agreed that he would come home with me after school the next day and he would stay until his dad got home from work.

On the ride home Grandma asked him a lot of questions. He answered all of them enthusiastically. I just stared out the window and watched the trees pass by.

"What is there to do?" John asked as we walked up the stairs towards my bedroom.

"I don't know." And I really didn't, I had never had to find something to do before. When Rose was over we always just talked and when I was by myself I read and I watched TV. John wanted something to do.

"Let's go on an adventure." John suggested with a big smile as we walked into my room.

"What? How? Where?" I questioned, completely baffled by his suggestion.

"In here. We just have to pretend." He said and I still looked confused, "My uncle used to visit a lot and we would go on a whole bunch of adventures in my backyard. We would go under the sea, or back in time to see the dinosaurs or through the jungles of South America to find a hidden temple."

"But… how?" I asked. I was actually interested because it sounded like fun.

"By pretending. Here." He moved so he was sitting at the footboard of my bed. He gripped it tightly as he explained, "The bed can be our rocket ship, and this is the control panel. The rest of your room is a new planet and the rest of the house is secret tunnels and rooms underneath the surface."

I moved so I was sitting next to him and gripped the footboard like he was. "Okay…?" I said, unbelieving.

"We're on a mission to locate and save the Earth princess who was stolen by the evil race of aliens called the Alternians."

I nodded slowly, "Okay. But we can't take off again. The engine was wrecked when we entered the atmosphere." John blinked looking confused for a moment before it clicked and he understood where I was going.

"Well, then let's go see if we can fix it now." He said moving to get off the bed.

I grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back, "Whoa, whoa, you can't just get out of the spaceship without checking the oxygen outside. What if we can't breathe? You would die in a second." John looked shocked and then he moved to look back at the footboard and acted like he was pushing buttons.

"The oxygen levels look good. We can breathe without a suit. So let's go." John said jumping off the bed. I followed more slowly and looked around my room. I was starting to see a new planet and it was really weird but, at the same time, very exciting.

"So… what does this princess we're saving look like?" I asked as I kneeled down beside John where he was poking around underneath my mattress.

John paused and looked around the room, "You're right… we need a princess to save." John said standing up and looking around the room, "Do you have anything we could use? A doll or something?"

"No. I'm not a girl."

"Well we may as well look." He said before moving to look through my closet for something. I stared at him for a while before looking through my dresser and the boxes of stuff I had on the floor.

"Oh! How about this!?" John exclaimed from somewhere deep in the closet. I looked over at him and saw him pull something out of a box labeled 'Bro'. My stomach turned and I was scared stiff. I didn't go through any of the boxes labeled 'Bro' because it wasn't mine. It was the stuff that Bro wouldn't bring with him because he didn't want it to get damaged.

What he pulled out of the box almost made me sick. It had been in Bro's life longer than I had and I had always been so scared to break it that I didn't touch it. The puppet had long, noodly arms and legs and his large head sagged on his plush shoulders. Scrawled across his puppet-sized blue t-shirt was 'CAL'.

"That's Bro's." I started, "You can't touch it."

"Then ask your bro if we can use it?"

My fists clenched tightly at my sides. I ground my teeth as I spoke, "I can't. He doesn't live here."

"Then he never has to know." John said walking out of the closet and sitting Cal on the bed.

"No. Put Cal back." I said staring intently at the puppet now sitting on my bed.

John turned and stared at me with his eyebrows furrowed. He started to frown as he realized I was being completely serious. "Why? I don't get it."

"Because I'm not allowed to touch Bro's stuff."

"But if he left it here with you he must want you to touch it." John said standing up and looking at me. I'd never seen him look so angry before. "Why are you being such a baby? It's not like we're going to break it or anything. If you don't want him to be angry just don't break his stuff."

I was quiet, I couldn't think of anything to say to that.

John looked me over, he still looked really angry. He made an about face and went back into the closet, "Let's see what else he left here." He stated before sticking his hand back into the box labeled 'Bro'. He pulled out a few weapons and put them down on the floor beside the box. Then he pulled out a couple more puppets. Then he paused.

"Oh cool. Dave come see what he left here." John said turning to me and motioning me over. All of the anger that had been on his face was completely gone now. I moved slowly to join him and I recognized what he was looking at in an instant.

"No. Don't touch it. I was never allowed to touch that."

"Never?" John looked completely shocked as he reached in and pulled the console out of the box. Bro's NES was never mine to touch. He always played the games and I was lucky if I even got to watch. "Wow, look at all these games." John was completely in awe. He put the machine down on my lap and sifted through the cartridges.

I very carefully moved the console off my lap and onto the floor and moved to close to the box. "Okay. We can use Cal, but I really don't think we should touch Bro's NES." I said sending a rather pleading look John's way and the goofy grinning boy nodded and backed out of the closet.

I took the extra time to put all of Bro's stuff back in the box before joining him. "You should go tell your grandma to hide the princess so we can actually make it an adventure. I used to get my big sister to hide one of her dolls for me and my uncle. It's more fun that way." He said with a smile.

I nodded slowly and very gingerly picked Cal up. "Okay." I went downstairs and found grandma in the kitchen baking with a smile on her face. Her eyes opened wide when she noted Cal in my hands.

"Where did you find that?" She asked, wiping her hands on her apron and kneeling down in front of me. She touched Cal gently and smiled down at it.

"Bro left it here." I said quietly. "He's going to be our princess. John and I are going to rescue him. Can you hide him for us?" I asked handing Cal to her.

She took the puppet and nodded slowly, "Okay. It's nice to see Cal again." She adjusted the puppets hat and smiled down at me, "I'm glad he left it here for you. That really means a lot." She ruffled my hair. "Now go on, I'll hide Cal, you go back upstairs."

I went back upstairs and found John sitting on the bed staring up at the ceiling. He looked at me when I walked in and smiled, "Well, let's get to adventuring then!"

We discovered a lot about Alternia. It was populated by an alien race called Trolls. They had grey skin and bright orange horns. They were a blood thirsty race and their king was going to marry the princess. I had to bring up the point that our princess was a boy, not a girl. So the king changed into an empress, an empress who lived under the sea. We discovered underground homes called Hives and explored them so we could find a secret entrance to the castle where they were holding Princess Cal. Grandma had hidden him on top of the fridge and she left a chair out for us to climb up but put it on the other side of the room.

We found our path into the castle and found the princess on top of her tower, looking down at us, her saviours. A guard watched us from the corner, but they were on our side because they didn't come after us as we pushed the ladder up against the side of the tower. When we secured the princess we ran back to our spaceship so we could get off the planet.

When we got back to Earth we were given medals and called heroes. We got in an argument over who would marry the Princess. We decided, in the end, that we would both live with the Princess and the three of us would live happily ever after together in our mansion.

John's dad came to the door not long after we had finally decided the layout of our house in my room. I was pretty upset that he was leaving I was having a lot of fun with him over.

He smiled at me and said, "it's okay we can hang out again some other time." And I nodded as he walked with his dad down to their car.

I couldn't stay mad at him forever, that was obvious now. Maybe he could be my friend. Maybe it would be fun.

Grandma put a hand on my shoulder, "come on Davey, dinner's ready."

* * *

**Yay positive feedback. A couple notes.**  
**1. Someone asked the year and what not this is taking place. I'm not using canon birth years in this. The Beta kids were all born in 1982 or 1983. And the story itself takes place in 1990.**  
**2. I'm just posting them as I get them from my editor. I'm going to be posting them on AO3 later, when I decide to set up a schedule.  
3. Reviews and what not are more than welcome. In fact it makes me tear up a little bit and roll around on the floor 3  
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**_-CA_  
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